Thalia Zedek – guitar + vocals
Jerry di Rienzo – guitar, backup vocals on “1,000 mph”
J.A. – bass
Adam Gaynor – drums
Phil Milstein – tapes on “Cell”
“I liked the word Via because it meant ‘in transition between one place and another,’ which is how I felt at that point in my life. I also liked the way the word looked on paper.” -Thalia Zedek, 2025
During the summer of 2024, Chris Brokaw and I were chatting at the bar at the Avalon Lounge in Catskill, New York, about various bands in the Boston underground rock scene in the late 80s and early 90s, and he mentioned the band Via. “Maybe Thalia’s best band,” he said, “Jerry’s, too.”
That’s a pretty big statement – he was, of course, referring to Thalia Zedek (Come, Live Skull, Uzi) and Jerry di Rienzo (Cell, Nuclear Theater). Of course I’d never heard of Via, but soon after, I had a folder of rough mixes emailed to me. And soon after that, I was sitting with Thalia and Jerry – again in Catskill – discussing releasing this music together.
Listening to it was like opening a time capsule – a group of 8-track recordings from 1987, before Come, before Cell, when these amazing musicians were just discovering themselves. The music was loud, aggressive, and actually ferocious in spots, these two brilliant guitar players coming into their own, with a rhythm section of James Apt and Adam Gaynor of the band Nuclear Theater and Phil Milstein of Uzi providing tape loops. I could instantly hear what Chris described to me months before.
Via splintered after playing just two shows – one in Boston, one in New York after the band members moved there to be closer to Thalia, whose work with Live Skull was becoming a more full-time endeavor. The only documents left by Via are these six songs, recorded in Jerry’s basement studio in Somerville, MA, along with one gig flyer and some lo-fi live cassette recordings.
Chris Brokaw, who wrote the liner notes to the album, states, “The music bears some cosmetic resemblances to Sonic Youth, but the songs are way more raw, primal, seething, coiled – inexorable. I still can’t get over it.”
We’re proud to introduce you to the music of Via.
-Al, Dromedary Records